About hot chocolate, what chocolate to use, I would like to define here before getting into a temperature issue.
Long time my favorite chocolate in my pantry is Dark Pure 80% (Bio Fairtrade) from Amazon Rainforest in Peru by Chocolate Makers. Specially this criollo cocoa beans are grown by the Awajun people along the banks of the Cenepa and Rio Santiago rivers in the Amazon Rainforest and buying this product I know being an ecosystem of their sustainability. And they make possible and make us happy by a good quality cup of hot chocolate! Thank God, why I have not have this chocolate in the kitchen by now? Sorry for the mis handling. I would like to always promise a good cup of hot chocolate. Directly sustainable. New Awajun hot chocolate will be available from Sat 15 November on.
We say in dutch "warm chocolate" which actually is not meant to be hot. Warm, to me is around 60 degree. But I personally find hot chocolate to be at least 80 degree is nice, it's not quickly getting colder. I can enjoy the warmth by holding a cup. More than that 85 or 90 degree might be hot, but it is not impossibly hot. I personally make my hot chocolate in a pan like that hot. Just before boiling, when the level of milk start to puff I turn off the heat, then I whisk to emulsify, then the texture gets naturally thicker and mild. When in a coffee bar, (in Italy for example) there is no time to make a cup of hot chocolate every time by a pan, then they have an instant powder to melt in hot water/milk. That is made with modified starch or thickner, which activates with hot water/milk when it is mixed. To make a texture as if it is made in a pan.
And such sachet is handy also when you serve together with churos for example, a bit thicker hot chocolate, suitable to dip in things by the way.
Adding a whipped cream on top, let's not over loaded like D◯ coffee outlet they make each tray messing around with spill over. The best is hand whipped cream, not comes from the whipper with n2o gas. But for the convenience to keep it longer shelf life and all the time same consistency, this is a common solution. But I would like to try one method today （I had an epiphany in the kitchen! Let's see how that works.